China Splash April 2017

Quite An Explosive Dish
A restaurant introduced a “mine” dish, which will explode and reveal the food inside the bomb. It’s unclear where it went wrong, but one dish accidentally burned a woman’s face. Ms. Wang invited her high school classmates to her favorite restaurant in Chongqing and ordered a new dish called “mine.” She began by igniting the lead wire as a waitress explained. As sparks flew, the shell of the mine exploded. Debris and hot soup from the dish spilled and burned Wang’s face. A supposed surprise suddenly became a shock. In the end, the restaurant apologized and paid Wang 500 RMB as compensation. (Chongqing Morning News)

Nearly An Expensive Mistake
A careless man threw out hundreds of thousands of RMB by mistake. The man surnamed Wen from Inner Mongolia’s Dongsheng City got a phone call from his supplier asking for payment. He grabbed both a garbage bag filled with 176,500 RMB and a bag of trash in one hand and headed out. On the way to bank, he absent-mindedly tossed out both bags thinking they were garbage while talking on his phone. He didn’t realize his mistake until he arrived at the bank. Panicking, he called his family and searched all the bins in the garden, but found no money. He called police for help, who watched surveillance video and found an old man picked it up. To find the man, police knocked on doors one by one and finally, located the man. The man returned all the cash to Wen and was given 1,000 RMB as a reward. (news.ifeng.com)

Employee Cheats Employer
A man wanted to recruit a dentist for his new clinic, but ended up losing 45,000 RMB. The man surnamed He opened a dental clinic in Xiamen last year and needed a qualified dentist. He posted the job, offered information online and a man called Xiao Zeng contacted him. Xiao Zeng said he could introduce him a good candidate. A few days later, He received five qualification licenses and bank account proof from Xiao Zeng, who also asked for 45,000 RMB advance salary to attract the candidate to Xiamen. Dr. He consulted his friend, who believed the licenses were real. So, He transferred the money to Xiao Zeng and waited for the dentist to come. But she never came. He sent the documents for verification and discovered two of them were fake. (ce.cn)

Latest Shared Bike Fraud
As shared bikes are growing in popularity, fraud designed for bikes are starting to appear around the country. In Nanjing, WeChat and Alipay payment QR codes are reportedly added beside the original QR code to confuse users. Some original codes are damaged, or the text “system updating, please scan the two side QR codes” is added to deceive people to scan the additional codes and charge them money. In some cases, a new QR code sticker covers the original and directs users to download a fake app, which is in fact a trojan. Mobike warned that the real QR codes won’t direct to other links and users must be careful when scanning. (People’s Daily)

Tomb Raiders Kill Themselves
In Guizhou, tomb raiders tried to break into an 800 year-old grave, but got poisoned by a toxic gas created by themselves. In the early morning of March 7, a man was brought to an emergency room in Chengzhai Town, in the north of Guizhou, by six men. They claimed that they worked in a mine and inhaled toxic gas. While waiting, three of them fainted, which caused suspicion in the staff since there is no mine nearby. Police were informed and after questioning, the men confessed that they were tomb raiders and had dug an 8-meter-deep tunnel to the back of the tomb using a gas generator. They blocked the entrance with a thick quilt to muffle the noise, but the toxic gas was trapped inside. Three dead bodies were found in the tunnel. The man who was sent to hospital also died. The tomb was listed in the county’s heritage protection list in 2001 and has reportedly been visited by robbers a few times already. (Guiyang Evening News)

Health Products Kill Old Man
A senior man was found dead at a beach in Qingdao on March 11. The 60-year-old man surnamed Chen left a suicide note at home. He wrote, “Xiangshang Group has ruined me. Since last year, they cheated me into buying more than 60,000 RMB supplementary products. They promised me that they would take my wife and me to Yuntai mountain, Xi’an and Bali, but we haven’t gone to any of these places so far, neither did I take many products.” Chen’s family had no idea about the deals between Chen and Xiangshang. The next day, they confronted with the company. A manager from Xiangshang stated that they never forced Chen to buy any products and all sales were conducted legally. They explained that Chen became their customer last April, but missed the chance to visit Bali, so he had to wait until the next trip. (news.iphone.com)

Delicious Gelatin-filled Shrimp
A citizen from Panyu, Guangzhou discovered an unknown jelly-like substance in his shrimp. Media found out that it’s quite common in the market. In March, Mr. Chen bought half a kilo of fresh shrimp from a wet market in Panyu. When he peeled them at home before cooking, he noticed a finger tip amount of transparent gelatin in every shrimp located between the head and the body. He reported the information to local media. Reporters from Guangdong TV bought shrimp from four vendors in two different markets and discovered the same stuff existing in all the seafood. Samples were sent to Guangdong Food and Drug Administration to check. The result showed that the jelly-like substance is an editable gelatin extracted from seaweed. The reason why it’s injected inside shrimp is probably to firmly connect the head and body, enhancing body strength. (Guangdong TV)